Go
by A.C. Castle
Summary: Skin deep AU, the scene in the dungeon. Fluff! Belle is brave, stubborn and bold.


**Skin deep AU. The part in the dungeon to be more precise. Pure fluff, because we are in hiatus and Lacey gives me a bit of a bad feeling with those pics...**

**Had written this a while ago, but was a little afraid, being my first attempt at Rumbelle, so please be kind.**

**Enjoy! And please, Review :3**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, no. They would at least be engaged by this point. Or with memories intact. **

* * *

"Go!"

"What?"

"I don´t want you anymore, dearie. Now go!"

He wasn´t even looking at her, the bastard.

Oh. Usually that meant he was ashamed or lying. She wasn´t sure, but it was true love so she was going to stay and find out.

"No."

"What?" – Well, at least he looked now. She saw anger and fear (why?) and something she couldn´t quite figure out, but she would.

"I love you, you idiot, and I'm not going to leave you because you think some queen who I've never heard about wants to hurt you. Think, Rumplestinskin, I haven´t left home since our deal and even with my father I never went that far away from the Castle walls. How could I have been some pawn to that woman? I´m not done! So hush! Look, she came to me, I didn´t want to talk to her but she was persistent and when she mentioned breaking a curse with a kiss, taking the darkness with something I´ve wanted to do since you caught me when I was falling, I really didn´t see the harm."

His face was emotionless and Belle wanted to kick him or slap him or kiss him or a combination of the three. Infuriating man.

At least he was quiet.

"So, Rumple, I´m going to stay until you believe that I love you."

"No."

"Why?"

They were both pissed at this point, he was actually growling.

"Because, no one could ever love me!" – His yelled at her, he never yelled at her! And he sounded so angry and hurt and she was pissed and tired so she did slap him. She was mortified for a split second, especially given his shocked face.

"Don´t! Don´t say that! I love you. How can you be so blind?"

Ok, now he was really angry and her bravery was faltering. With a roaring ´fine´ he left and closed the door. Great, now she was in the dungeon again. Good thing her made up bed was still somewhat comfortable.

* * *

It had been two weeks. Meals would appear besides her three times a day so at least she wasn´t starving to death. On the third day a book appeared. The door was unlocked on the fourth day, but she stayed. She knew he just needed time. When three more books appeared a week into her self-imprisonment, she had hope. Even if the door was unlocked, as if tempting her to leave, she wouldn´t, not even to gather more books.

On the morning of the end of the second week, a piece of paper appeared next to her "pillow". It read: 'Join me in the living room'. No signature or anything. The door to the dungeon opened and after washing her face with some water from the bucket that never seemed to go dirty or dry she left to find him. He was sitting on his chair, spinning. The living room was a mess; everything was shattered into pieces, except her chipped cup. It was safely kept in a pillar. Oh, that man.

"He is alive you know. I haven´t been able to find him yet, but I can feel that he is alive." – His voice was quiet, resigned and filled with so much sadness.

"Your son? I thought he was dead."

He shook his head in a negative motion. "When I said I lost him I meant literally, I let my fear of weakness break my deal with him. Now he is in another world, a world without magic nonetheless."

"And you need your magic to find him, don´t you?"

He nodded.

"I´m so sorry, Rumple."

He looked at her know, shocked and confused. She elaborated.

"If I knew you were trying to find your son using magic, I would´ve never tried to kiss you knowing that that would leave you powerless. But, even if I had not met that woman, I would have kissed you." – Her face was completely red with embarrassment, not used to being so bold with such things, but she knew she had to be like this for the information to get into his thick head. His eyes were even bigger than usual. – "It wouldn´t have been two weeks ago, but soon. With what that women told me I thought it would be a win/win situation. So, I´m sorry and I won´t share a true love´s kiss with you until you find your soon or even after that, if you really don´t have feelings for me but until then, I´m staying."

She sounded sincere and she had apologized. He was the one that had locked her up again and SHE apologized, that wasn´t right. She hadn´t done anything wrong. Those two weeks weren´t in vain, he had traveled to the queen's domains, became the walls and listened, he listened to the Queen´s guards, the Queen´s huntsman and finally the Queen´s chambers where she blabbered to that mirror. And among other things necessary to his plan, he had learned that his Belle was sincere. He had left the door of the dungeon open and the magical spells down for her to leave if she wished, but here she was.

"You don´t need to apologize, dear. I believe you and I…Belle" – He stood and walked to her, took her hands and gave her a sad smile – "You deserve so much more than this, than me. You could have anyone you ever wanted; no man would be stupid enough to reject you. So you can go, live your life and explore the world. I won´t stop you and I´ll come if you ever need me."

"I think I rather stay. I don´t want any other, Rum, I want you. Besides, I have a lot to clean and a lot to read." – She gave him a cheeky smile.

He gave up. He was a lucky bastard, he knew it, he had screwed up and his Belle had made everything so much better.

He hugged her and she him. She had never felt more happy or protective than she did when being in his arms and she laughed, squeezing him even more. He chuckled a long side her and with a last squeeze they released each other. "Belle," - he had to tell her, he had to, but he was afraid; there was parts of him that still couldn´t believe anyone could feel something like love towards him. – "I, I love you."

She launched herself towards him, stumbling backwards a few steps, fortunately gaining balance at the last second. "I love you, too, Rum." She mumbled on his neck, but he heard it and felt how his black dark soul gained a pixel of light.


End file.
